


Is it your heart that breaks first?

by alysurr



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Allergic reaction, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anaphylaxis, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25936789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alysurr/pseuds/alysurr
Summary: Part of an AU I’m working on for Seamista. Sea Hawk and Mermista go to dinner with his estranged father, and it goes about as well as expected.Per Mystic’s prompt request—“Don’t listen to them—don’t you DARE listen to them.”
Relationships: Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 36





	Is it your heart that breaks first?

When Mermista exited the apartment building, Sea Hawk was already standing next to the car door, looking handsome in a dashing charcoal three-piece suit. His normally unruly curls were slicked back and he was freshly shaven, spare the mustache. She suddenly felt a little underdressed in her knee-length dress and flats.

“A suit?” she asked with a grin as she approached him, stopping to straighten his tie before planting a kiss on his cheek. “I didn’t realize meeting your parents was such a big deal! Should I run back up and change into heels?”

“No, darling, you look lovely,” Sea Hawk said as he held open the door for her. “As usual,” he added before closing the door behind her. He went in on the other side, sliding into the back seat next to her. As soon as their seatbelts clicked into place, the driver took off. 

He was uncharacteristically quiet the ride there, staring out the window and rubbing gentle circles on the back of Mermista’s hand with his thumb. The driver didn’t turn on the radio, so Mermista scrolled through twitter for most of the ride. 

“I should warn you… he’s very difficult to be around,” Sea Hawk said suddenly. Mermista looked up from her phone with a smile. 

“I put up with you, don’t I?”

He shook his head. “It’s not like that. He just doesn’t like anyone, so please don’t be upset if he doesn’t like you.”

Mermista shrugged her shoulders. “You know me, I’m not looking to impress anyone.” 

“I just want you to know if he’s an asshole to you, we’re leaving.”

“Fine with me.” Mermista leaned over to kiss him as they pulled into a gated community. The driver said something to the gatekeeper in a language she wasn’t familiar with, and they entered the gate. “I can’t imagine it will be worse than when you met my dad, anyways.”

“It definitely could be,” Sea Hawk said seriously. “And it probably will be.”

The house, more like a mansion, really, was one of the biggest Mermista had ever seen up close. The garden was expertly landscaped with local and some exotic plants, and the front porch looked almost untouched. 

His parents were standing in the foyer when they entered through huge white double doors. He looked so much like his father—the dark eyes, dark auburn hair, his streaked with gray, and tall lanky build. But his father had a full beard, and the look on his face was the polar opposite of Sea Hawk’s kind and happy one. 

“Sebastian,” his father said gruffly. “And this must be..? Hm, please excuse me for not remembering your name, dear. My youngest son has had so many flavors of the week.”

“Mermista and I have been together for two years now, father,” Sea Hawk spat in a tone Mermista had never heard before. It was a mix between false respect and anger. His face was already red, and Mermista gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“It’s fine,” she said quietly, looking down at her shoes. 

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mermista!” Interrupted the blonde woman standing next to Sea Hawk’s father, a genuine and bright smile on her face. She reached out a hand and Mermista took it gently. “My name is Lily, I’m Sebastian’s step-mom.” 

“It’s lovely to meet you,” Mermista responded. 

They were interrupted by the shout of “Sebastian!” from upstairs and two kids, a boy and a girl came bounding down. 

Sea Hawk’s eyes lit up at the sight of his younger siblings, and he held out his arms for them. 

“Hey, guys!” He squeezed them tightly before kneeling down to their height and turning to Mermista. “Guys, this is my girlfriend, Mermista!” he said happily. “Mermista, this is—“

“Jack and Sandy!” Mermista remembered, and their eyes lit up at the sound of their names. “I was so excited to meet you!” 

“She’s so pretty!” Sandy said. 

“Are you gonna marry her?” asked Jack. 

Mermista and Sea Hawk immediately made eye contact and blushed at each other. Mermista was the one to look away, at the sound of Lily’s drawn out “Oookay, dinner’s ready in the dining room!”

The four of them followed Mr. and. Mrs. Marinho down the hallway towards the dining room, Mermista grabbing Sea Hawk’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. The white marble tile on the floor was so clean and shiny it was almost a mirror, and in the center of the room above the table was the biggest chandelier Mermista had ever laid eyes on. 

Sea Hawk pulled out a plush dining chair for her and she sat down before he pushed it in, a little more aggressively than he meant to. He sat next to her while the kids took the other side of the table, and Mr. Hawkins sat at the head.

Dinner was served by several butlers, like a restaurant without taking their orders. Sea Hawk’s dad commanded them to eat and everyone began. 

“Mermista, what do your parents do?” Mr. Marinho demanded after a few moments of awkward silence.

“My dad’s a diesel mechanic,” Mermista began. “And I’m not sure what my mom does, she left when I was little.” 

“Oh darling,” Lily said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. No loss to me, I never knew her,” Mermista said, twirling pasta around her fork. “My dad took good care of me.” 

“And where are you from? Sorry to be rude, your accent doesn’t exactly scream California.” 

“It’s fine. I’m from Miami.” 

“Oh?” Mr. Marinho interrupted. “What part of Miami? We have a vacation home in Coral Gables.” 

Mermista knew that—they had broken into the house a little over a year ago when they visited her dad. “Hialeah,” she responded before taking a sip of her water. 

Sea Hawk’s dad wrinkled his nose. “Oh, that dump.” 

“Dad,” Sea Hawk warned as Mermista narrowed her eyes at him, challenging him to continue. She stopped when she noticed some purple and red spots on Sea Hawk’s neck, under his ear. 

“Babe, you okay?” She asked. Sea Hawk looked at her and tilted his head. 

“Yeah?” 

“You’ve just got some—like, hives?”

“It’s probably just stress, don’t worry about it dearest.” He took another bite of his pasta. 

Behind him, his dad snorted. 

“And what do you have to stress about, freeloader? Not having anyone to bail you out next time you get locked up?” 

Sea Hawk didn’t look up from his food, suddenly very interested in the way he cut his chicken as his face began growing red. 

“Look at me when I speak to you, boy.”

Sea Hawk’s head snapped up, and he opened his mouth to speak, but his vision began to blur and he began choking. He pushed himself away from the table, doubling over and coughing into a napkin, clutching his throat with the other. He looked over at Mermista, his dark eyes bulging and his face suddenly swollen as he began to asphyxiate.

“Shit,” Mermista gasped as she pushed back her own chair, dropped to her knees and started digging through her bag. 

_ “I’m really, really allergic to tree nuts,” Sea Hawk told her as they sat in the bed of his truck. “Like, they will kill me.” He handed Mermista an object and she turned it over in her hands, reading the inscription. 3mg Epinepherine Auto-Injector. On the other side were instructions for using it.  _

_ “I can’t always be trusted to do it myself, so can you keep this on you, just in case?”  _

_ “Of course,” Mermista said. “Can’t have you dying on me.” _

_ “Just like, pull off that blue thing and stab me in the thigh, okay?” _

_ “Wait, so I have permission to stab you?” _

She grabbed the Epi-Pen she kept on her for emergencies and ripped off the safety release before jabbing it into her boyfriend’s thigh.  


“Breathe in, 1, 2, 3, breathe out,” she instructed. 

Sea Hawk relaxed as the medication worked its way through his body, coughing a few more times as the swelling in his throat decreased and he could breathe again. Both he and Mermista were panting. Everyone else at the table was dead silent.

His father began clapping from his seat. “Well done, I suppose you weren’t lying after all.”

Mermista and Sea Hawk both looked at his father in disbelief. 

“What?” Mermista asked, shocked. 

“What the hell did you do!?” Sea Hawk shouted at the same fine. 

With a nonchalant wave of his hand, Sea Hawk’s father said, “Your brother Jack is lactose intolerant, we have been instructing the chef to use cashew milk instead of dairy in our meals recently. I merely forgot you had an allergy to them.”

“He could have died!” Mermista shouted, still holding onto Sea Hawk’s arm as she stood up. 

“Do not use that tone with me, trailer trash.” 

Mermista recoiled at his words. Still slightly dizzy, Sea Hawk stumbles to stand next to her, gripping his knife in his hand. “Don’t EVER speak to her like that,” he growled, pointing the knife at his father. 

His father didn’t flinch at the knife pointing inches away from his face. “Sit down, both of you.” 

“I don’t know why I even bothered,” Sea Hawk said, dropping the knife on the table and tossing his napkin next to it. “You’re still the same asshole you’ve always been.”

“And you’re the same piece of shit son I wish I’d never had,” his father responded with a sharpness in his voice that could cut through steel.

“Francisco,” Lily said softly from the other side of the table. 

“No, dear. He needs to hear it. Maybe it will beat some sense into him, get him to pull him up by his bootstraps. I can’t imagine how you managed to be so fucked up when your brothers—even the kids—are so well behaved and obedient. I’ve given you everything to succeed and you just throw it away.”

“Maybe it had something to do with your shitty parenting,” Sea Hawk said. Mermista grabbed his arm again. 

“Sea Hawk, lets go,” she said, pulling him towards the door. 

“Keep blaming everyone else,” his father called behind them. “You’re never going to grow up. You’re both just going to end up back in a trailer park with nothing.”

Mermista slammed the door behind them and whipped out her phone to order an Uber.

They walked together out the door, down the long driveway and through the gate where the Uber awaited them. Mermista helped Sea Hawk, who was still recovering from his allergic reaction, into the car and got in on the other side. 

“Don’t listen to them. Don’t you DARE listen to them,” Mermista said as she pulled Sea Hawk into her arms. He buried his face in her chest, his own shaking with sobs as she held him. “Fuck what your dad thinks about you, about me,” she continued as she rubbed his back. “He’s wrong.”

She caught the Uber driver’s eye in the mirror and glared at him, causing him to bring his eyes back to the road. 

Sea Hawk was too upset to talk, so Mermista just let him cry it out. 

After he calmed down a bit, she teased him. “You better appreciate that, it’s not like I’d let you motorboat me for so long in public in any other situation.” 

He pulled back and laughed, a genuine smile on his face for the first time since he greeted his siblings. 

“I love you,” he said, another sob building up in his chest. “I’m so sorry for everything he said to you—you know none of that is true.”

“Sea Hawk—I’m not ashamed of where I’m from. Sure, I didn’t grow up in a mansion with butlers and private drivers, but I wouldn’t give up my childhood for any of that.”

“And I’d give up all of it to have a dad like yours,” Sea Hawk said softly. Mermista held him tighter. 

“You got me, and I’m gonna make sure nobody ever treats you like that again. I love you, Sebastian.”


End file.
